¡Viva los Muertos!
"¡Viva los Muertos!" is the eleventh episode in the second season of The Venture Bros. This episode is written by Ben Edlund, creator of The Tick and friends with the creators of The Venture Bros. Plot When Dr. Venture finally succeeds in attaining the holy grail of superscience, the revivification of a human corpse for fun and profit, a washed up gang of wandering former teen sleuths is convinced that the Venture Compound is haunted. Their investigation uncovers something far creepier. Meanwhile, Orpheus shepherds Brock through a crisis of conscience with the help of a New Age shaman and a bizarre tea party. Trivia *The title is Spanish for "Long live the dead!" *Ben Edlund previously helped develop the stories for the previous episodes "Careers in Science", written by Doc Hammer, and "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?", written by Jackson Publick. This is his first solo Venture Bros. script. *One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) gets to have a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "¡Viva los Muertos!" the credit reads Kimson "Quiet Desperation" Albert. *Henchman #21 refers to the doomed POV Monarch henchman as "Texas." It is uncertain if this is really his name, or if #21 is using the informal army practice of referring to a new recruit by nicknaming him after his place of origin (often because they don't remember the name). *The resurrection scene is an homage to the movie Robocop. *The name "Venturestein" and the concept of the reanimation of the dead is an allusion to Frankenstein's monster. *We do not see the actual means by which Doctor Venture brough VentureStein back from the dead. In the novel, Frankenstein also refuses to specify the details (so nobody else would try). *The scene in which Brock shows up to Dr. Orpheus's party drenched by rain alludes to a similar scene in American Beauty. *The group of vagrants who show up at the Venture compound parody the characters of Scooby-Doo and famous killers or radicals: **Ted (Fred): Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, David Koresh **Val (Velma): Valerie Solanas **Patty (Daphne): Patty Hearst **Sonny (Shaggy): David Berkowitz (The "Son of Sam") **Groovy (Scooby): Harvey, the infamous dog from the Son of Sam case. *The influx of these personalities put a dark twist on the Scooby continuum: Ted is shown as a quasi-charismatic and abusive leader; Val is a man-hating lesbian; Patty is a weak-willed abuse victim; Sonny is a drug-addled hippie; and Groovy is possessed by a demon. *Incidentally, the Scooby-Doo franchise was created by Hanna-Barbera (the predecessor to Cartoon Network Studios, which airs The Venture Bros.). This connection allowed them the use of the zany sound affects found in the Scooby-Doo series, just as it allowed them the use of characters from Johnny Quest in previous episodes. Theoretically, the creators of the Venture Bros. could have used the exact likenesses of the original Scooby-Doo cast. **One reason the creators might have not used the original characters is due to the show being referenced by characters in previous episodes. (Triana has said Hank dresses "like Fred from Scooby-Doo.") *Another death sequence of Hank and Dean is revealed in this episode. Two years before, they were murdered by Sonny and Groovy in a cavern. *The Alchemist and Jefferson Twilight are at Dr. Orpheus's party. *The "Death Vine" drink that was served at Dr. Orpheus's party is likely based on ayahuasca. *Ted (based on Fred) calls Dr. Orpheus a Dracula. In "Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!", Hank (based on Fred) refers to Orpheus as a Dracula as well. *Items on Doctor Venture's to-do list: **Beat God at his own game **Make money **Increase my word power **Get in shape *Dr. Orpheus complains about repeatedly recieving Hector's junkmail. Until "Powerless in the Face of Death", Hector was living in the compound's manufacturing wing. *This episode shows that, at least at present, Doctor Venture has four clone slugs of each of the boys. :*Notably, the Hank clone that VentureStein "surfs" around on is obviously lifeless, despite being (apparently) as developed as the clone in "Powerless in the Face of Death". Viva los Muertos!